An anniversary and a pirate
by ThisCat
Summary: Sanji loves the ladies. A lot. He hates people who disrespect ladies. At times it can seem almost ironic, but only almost. Rated T for a bit of language, violence and adult themes.


**I have a complicated relationship with Sanji. On one hand, he's totally badass and sneaky and cool, and on the other, when women are involved he can get downright offensive. The only good part (bad part?) is that even though he comes off as creepy at times, he's still way better than many real people. So of course that is what I write about. Sometimes I don't understand my own brain. Oh well, here's my try at Sanji.**

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She sat at the bar and stared down at her drink. Many would say it was too sad, to sit at a bar on your own, but it was the first anniversary for the day her husband left to travel the ocean, and she felt she had to celebrate his freedom.

_Irresponsible,_ they had said when he left, _leaving your wife like that_.

However, she had only smiled and said, _it doesn't matter. He has freedom in his blood, I knew that when I married him. He has my ring on his finger and his promises to me on his back, and that is as far as I am willing, or able, to bind him._

When they again expressed their disbelief, she had laughed. _Men like that are like the sea, strong and untameable, yet unchanging in their essence. I love him and I trust him, and that is all I need._

Remembering, she smiled down in her drink before she downed it and asked for another. She _did_ miss him, but it was better to miss him and know he was hers than to have him in a cage and not have him at all.

Either way, it was impossible to get too contemplative tonight. The bar was not as quiet as usual. A certain pirate crew had visited the village earlier that day and were now making a ruckus through half of the bar. She had nothing against pirates, really. The village was poor enough and isolated enough that pirates rarely bothered them as long as they were allowed to stock up on food and booze there, and pirates were often men of the sea, after all. In fact, she recognized many of her husband's qualities in this crew, but they were still a loud gang of strangers, and criminals to boot, so she had no desire to get friendly.

Letting her eyes wander carelessly over the rowdy gathering, her gaze was met by one of the pirates, who immediately smiled and stood up. She looked away quickly and asked the bartender for the bill, but before she had even gotten her wallet out, the blond pirate was at her side.

"Ah, ma Cherie, why ever would a beautiful lady such as yourself be drinking all alone?"

He had actually kissed her hand. She was unsure of how to react to his advances as he was fawning, actually _fawning_, over her like a lovesick retriever. In the seconds it took her to pull her wallet out of her pocket, he had circled her chair at least three times, given her more compliments than she had heard in a year and offered to buy her, or make, five different drinks and two desserts. He was the most enthusiastic pick-up artist she had ever met. Honestly, he scared her. She had no way of knowing how he would react to being denied.

"Oy, shit-cook! Fetch our drinks already!" one of the pirates yelled from behind him. She took the opportunity to pay and escape as the previously fawning, now suddenly furious pirate turned and yelled back an impressive tirade of insults. She would have to remember many of those for later.

She thus left the bar earlier than she would have liked, though it was already dark and a time of night most would call "late". Out in the fresh air, she half-regretted not having taken the man up on his offer for a drink, but this early, she was not yet drunk enough to make decisions like that. Oh well, she would just have to continue celebrations with the bottle of whiskey she had at home.

Fate had other things in store for her though, as her way out of the alley leading to the bar was blocked by a group of five men. All of them were drunker than her, but not drunk enough to keep them from standing or walking. They were also taller than her and stronger than her. With the way they looked at her, she decided the pirates were her best bet, but the man closest to her had a hand on her shoulder before she could take a single step back.

"Let go of me you asshole!"

"Don't be like that dahling," she heard the man slurring behind her. Then she was forcefully pulled back by the grip on her shoulder and pressed against a wall.

"Why don't you keep us company tonight?"

She was surrounded. _Shit_. How did that happen? Five more or less disgusting smiles laughed at her, and the man in front of her had his face pressed so close to hers she was sure she could smell what he had for breakfast.

"Well ain't you a cute one?"

Oh, lord. This was a terrible anniversary. She should have just stayed home to begin with.

"Let GO!" she shouted, though of course no one listened, and she closed her eyes as she felt hands grabbing for her blouse.

_SLAM_

The door to the bar opened with a bit more force than was strictly possible, she was pretty sure it had a mechanism to keep it silent, and a second later she heard the sounds of a very short fight and the pressure on her shoulders disappeared. Opening her eyes, she saw him, the pick-up pirate, standing between herself and five confused drunkards.

"Are you unharmed, flower?" he asked over his shoulder as he held out an arm to shield her.

"I'm fine. Did you follow me?" she replied, slightly suspicious, as she let him guide her back towards the door.

"I merely followed the call of a lady in distress."

_Through that big, heavy, soundproofed door?_

One of the drunkards gathered himself enough to speak. She recognized him as the one who had grabbed her earlier.

"Wha's wrong with you? We 'ere just gettin' to the good part."

"What is wrong with _me_?" He turned his full attention to the men in front of him and pulled his outstretched arm up to light a cigarette. His voice shook with emotion and his face contorted into a snarl as he looked them over. He was furious, that much was clear. Not in the way he had been when volleying insults earlier, but with a power so intense she realized the men must have been far drunker than she thought, or else they would already have been running.

As it was, he gave them no chance to run. Shouting, _This is no way to treat a lady!_ He proceeded to make short work of them, kicking them one after another into walls and each other with sounds of breaking bones. As she watched him work, she sent a thought to her husband, wishing for his safety when she no longer feared for her own. Once her guardian was done tapping a couple of them in the head a time or two, just to make sure they were staying down, he turned towards her with an apologetic look.

"Ah, mademoiselle, I apologize so much for the violence. The night can be rather dangerous for one such as you, if you would like, I could escort you home?"

_Truly not an ordinary man then,_ she found herself thinking. In fact, she doubted the pirate would even touch her without her expressed permission. She found herself smiling.

"Oh, thank you, but…" What the hell, he had just saved her life, and she was celebrating anyway, right? "…is that offer for a drink still up?"

His face lit up like a child at his first Christmas, and she was gleefully escorted through the bar towards the group of loud and friendly-looking people. It might be better not to drink alone after all.

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**So, my first real attempt at writing Sanji. Tell me what you think.**


End file.
